Flea Bomb Explosion or so we think

[Discus Wife]

:'( This is my first posting, so please be nice. I am the wife of one of you wonderful discus people and I think I have caused a problem in my husbands tank.

The tank resides in our basement, the fish (11 to start) mixed variety of discus have been in our house 4-5 months with great growth, one half to an inch per month.

Here's the PROBLEM, we have two dogs who recently started to reside down there with the fish and they developed fleas. Remeber be nice, please! I covered the tanks and filters with a blanket, and used a flea bomb to relieve our TV room of the little critters. This was Monday, June 23rd, Wednesday, one fish passed away, and then again today another one. The first was one of the smaller in the tank, but I know today's passing was a great lose to my husband. He did a massive water change on Wednesday and again last night he did a partial (I think the tank is 55 gallons). The remaining fish have their stress bars out and are not feeding well. (Beef heart mix, flake, and some sort of worms, not black)

He had the water tested for PH and such and everything was fine. The only other problem before the bombing was a bit of ick or white speckling on one of the fish (one that is still alive).

I did not cover the air pump. Does this sound like poisoning, or just a bad coincidence? If anyone can offer some help so there is not more lose of life, it would be greatly appreciated.

By the way the dogs will move upstairs away from the babies. ???

[acorn54]

i think if you do a search on this site there was mention of what to do if you use flea bombs but that is a done deed in your case
yes the air pump pumps air into the tank if you used flea bombs then i would suspect that the chemical fumes reside in the tank now
i would do massive water changes as long as you treat the water properly (dechlorinator) and the ph is okay i assume your husband knows that. what you will be trying to do is replace all the tainted water that is in the tank now with fresh water free of toxic fumes from the bombs

[black rat]

Sorry to hear the news,
i know nothing of flea bombs ok, but given the situation i would continue with large water changes and aerate the water well.
:)

[yellow sub]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Although its great to have an understanding and supportive wife, with regards to fish. If my wife knew that a flea bomb would kill my fish I think she would through a couple of dozen in the basement... >:(

Just one other sugestion if your husband is not already doing this would be to use a lot of carbon to try an absorb the poison.

since this happened on Monday, my guess is that the worst is probably over

[korbi_doc]

:'( :'( This is just a sad accident, & they are gonna happen. No one asks for this (in most cases, ie). You've had excellent advice: MASSIVE WATER CHANGES YES! & probably as Yellow Sub said, the worst is over! These are oil-based products & will be carried in with air so proper procedures are necessary, even with paint & other chemicals.

ABout the fleas & the dogs, they do not have to move out, or upstairs,you only need to upgrade the treatment & use the newer products like Advantage & Frontline on the animals to beat the flea problem. If you need to do the environment, NEVER aerosolize any chemical. You can use sprays very cautiously down close to perimeter of the room only, careful not to aerosolize, this is gen'l not necessary anymore with these aforementioned products!!!!!! Again sorry for the losses, hope you do well with the survivors, Dottie :'( :'(

[yogi]

Your already doing what I would do. (water changes) Someone also gave the suggestion of carbon. You should add some to the filter and replace it in 24 hours with fresh carbon. One more thing to check is the air pump. Some models have an air filter. It's on the bottom and is smaller than a dime, it looks like thick white cloth. If yours has it pull the filter off and get a new one. If your pump doesn't have it don't do anything.

[discus_nw]

You can buy inline filters for your pump, both external of tank and internal.

[April]

hi sorry to hear. but think yes possibly was the flea bomb.
last year i sprayed fly spray around our grooming salon and i had tons of tetras drop dead.
i also agree with korbi. being a dog grooomer. get advantage. great product. end of flea prolbems. put it on once a month on their necks and even the ones in the house will go on them and then die. no need for sprays etc. since the introduction of advantage our flea baths in the shop have dropped to hardly a dog with fleas. and the pesticide companies have hardly any business for flea infestation.
id go for the carbon also. and your sponges may have absorbed it. you need your bio.so cant very well get all new sponges.
my dog got sprayed by a skunk once and all my sponges smelled like skunk. which is harmless but shows how much they absorb stuff.